A top Realtor in the Savannah area. Jeri Patrick has a team with an established history of success of selling homes in and around the Savannah Area. Jeri specializes in the home buying and selling process and is available to answer any of your real estate questions, provide information and handle any obstacles that may arise.
Jeri Patrick began her Real Estate careers in 2002. Jeri’s strong ambition to be a success created a driving force in today’s real estate market.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

We humans have a natural craving to simplify the complex. This same instinct, which explains why legends, films and fairytales from every culture tend to boil down to heroes vs. villains, also explains why so many buyers and sellers desperately seek rules of thumb for making the often scary, rarely simple decisions they face.

Reality check: your real estate transaction is not a children’s story. Grown-up life is complicated, as are money matters and relationships. Since real estate involves all three (being a grown up, money and relationships), smart buyers and sellers should cast a suspicious eye at super simple real estate rules of thumb.

Let’s take a handful of the most persistent ones head on, and decipher which of them are fact, and which are fiction.

Rule of Thumb #1: Location, location, location.

Fact or Fiction: Fact.

One of the elemental truths of real estate is that almost everything can be changed about a home - except its location. By the same token, location is essential to our ability to afford and enjoy living in a place, given that it impacts everything from:

where our children go to school (and whether or not we have to pay for it),

how much time and money we spend getting to and from work,

our safety,

the beauty, quiet and convenience of our surroundings and

the recreational, shopping and cultural options which do - or don’t - become part of our daily lives.

Location impacts whether you hear train tracks or birdsong in the morning, whether your neighbors bring you cookies or bring you drama when you move in - it can even impact your career and job prospects. The deep, numerous impacts of where we live on our experience of a home, in turn, give location a powerful role in driving whether we can resell our homes - and for how much.

The critical importance of location is one real estate rule of thumb that grows more true over time. However, the specifics of what makes a location desirable have and continue to evolve rapidly. For example, urban homes with super-short commutes to bustling job centers have grown more and more interesting to buyers as their prices have come down and gas prices have gone up.

Rule of Thumb #2: It costs more to buy than to rent your home.

Fact or Fiction: Depends on where you live.

Just today, Trulia released its latest Rent vs. Buy study, showing that in 98 percent of American cities, it's actually less expensive to buy a home than it is to rent! Of course, the type of home you might want to buy could be more pricey than what you’d be satisfied living in as a rental, and buying a home requires an upfront chunk of dough (i.e., down payment and closing costs) that renters don’t have to come up with.

But the age-old would-be buyer objecion that “I can’t afford to buy a home” is now frequently shattered by the reality that when you take all things into account, buying a home at today’s prices and interest rates can actually cost the same or less than renting at today’s relatively high rental costs in many areas.

That said, if you live in San Francisco or New York City, chances are good that it does actually cost more to buy than to rent. But if you live elsewhere, it behooves you to actually do the math, factor in the massive tax advantages of homeownership and see which is truly more expensive for you. And make sure your decision accounts for the massive opportunity costs you might incur if you don’t take advantage of today’s prices and rates to buy a home of your own and start building equity - something you can simply never do as a tenant.

Rule of Thumb #3: List it high, to give yourself bargaining room.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction.

The fact of this matter is that if you are selling a home in a strong buyer’s market, your competition is steep. The home that presents the best value for the price is the one that is the most likely to sell. Listing your home higher than what you know it’s worth is a surefire way to alienate that relatively rare specimen: a qualified buyer with a sense of urgency who might otherwise be interested in making an offer on your home. Smart buyers who are ready to leap off the fence into homeownership do their research, and may have seen dozens - even hundreds of online listings before they make an offer. If your home is overpriced, chances are good that they’ll pass your home up, even if they like it, waiting for you to get a clue and cut the price.

There are simply too many other great homes at great prices on the market. Overpriced listings are much more likely to be a source of prolonged stress and handwringing to their owners than a source of successful sales.

If you're tempted to list your home high, there’s something else you need to be aware of: the sweet spot phenomenon. Homes that are listed too high sometimes go through one, maybe even several, price cuts before they hit a sweet spot - the price at which buyers are drawn to the value like moths to a flame, sometimes even generating multiple offers over the discounted price (but below the original list price). Here’s some good news: you don’t have to wait months and months and go through the agony of showing upon showing and price cut upon price cut to get your home’s list price to the sweet spot where it sells.

Work with a local agent who has a strong, recent track record of selling homes, quickly and at or near their list prices, in your area. Then, trust their pricing advice. (You might find it easier to trust them if you select your agent after speaking with several.) It’s the most efficient way to leverage local market expertise to get to your home’s pricing sweet spot, quickly and with minimum drama.

Rule of Thumb #4: Always offer 10% below the asking price.

Fact or Fiction: 100% baloney. I mean, fiction.

Few decisions in real estate are so nerve-wracking as that of how much to offer for a home. These days, we search online for comparables, try to suss out their similarities and differences between those homes and our target property, run some more numbers - there might even be a spreadsheet or two involved. We ask our agent to talk with the listing agent, get a feel for the seller’s motivation level and figure out whether there are any other offers, then try to factor the competition level and any credits or bank involvement into our thinking. We touch base (again!) with our mortgage broker to understand how rates have changed since our last conversation and exactly what the monthly payment will be if we offer X or Y or Z.

And at the end of all that, buyers often still feel like the final decision about exactly how many dollars and cents to offer for their home amounts to something like licking their finger, sticking it into the wind, and just picking a number. And that just seems wrong, for a decision so important.

So it’s no wonder that one of the most frequently asked questions I personally receive is the request for the perfect rule of thumb of how much below asking a buyer should offer, given today’s market dynamics. My answer is now what it always has been and will be: sorry folks - move along - no rule of thumb to see here.

Every state, county, city and neighborhood has a different dynamic - as does every listing. Every seller, bank or individual, has its own particular motivations, situational constraints or influences (like how much they owe on the home, or the need to split proceeds between divorcing or sibling co-owners) and thought processes. If the seller feels they listed the place at an uber-low price, they might respond very differently to a particular offer than a seller who gets the same offer, but felt like they were building cushion into the list price. If the home is in a neighborhood where most homes sell for more than the asking price, or the property has multiple buyers vyying for it, even a full-price offer might get laughed at.

Long story short - the specifics of each listing’s situation absolutely must be taken into account when deciding how much to offer, along with the comparable sales data and the buyer’s own (a) financial concerns and (b) motivation level for getting the home.

Rule of Thumb #5: Listing your home as a FSBO will save you some dough.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction (with the occasional exception).

I know some will argue this point, but the data is unequivocal: homes listed for sale by owner (FSBO) simply sell for less than similar homes listed by agents. From my own observations, I’d also argue that FSBO listings often simply don’t sell at all, and many end up listed by an agent after wasting months and months of the seller’s time.

The fact is, listing your home for sale by owner might save you the commission you would otherwise have paid to a listing agent. But the FSBO sellers who are successful generally do offer to pay the buyer’s broker’s commission, so the prospect of saving the full 5 or 6 percent agent commissions is more realistically the prospect of saving 2.5 or 3 percent.

Beyond that, the smartest FSBO sellers also often end up:

paying a limited service broker to list the property on MLS,

paying for professional staging or investing in some level of property preparation, even if they do the labor themselves, and

paying for an attorney to assist them with the disclosures and contracts involved in the sale --

all services that are frequently included in an agent’s services. And even those FSBO sellers still forgo the objective pricing advice and marketing expertise that a good, local listing agent would bring to the table, all included in the commission.

Fact is, many sellers who don’t hire an agent, but do cobble together a similar level of professional services and account for their own time spent on a FSBO listing, soon see that they’re not actually saving much money at all. And even those who think they can save soon see that there’s no savings if the house doesn’t sell - a common fate of FSBO’s on today’s market.

Sellers who already have in hand a buyer who is ready, willing and qualified to buy their home are the best suited for selling by owner, with the help of legal, title and escrow professionals, in my opinion. Most others should at least talk to several agents, discuss whether there’s any flexibility on commissions and be honest with themselves about what the prospect of marketing, preparing and selling the home DIY would really look like, before assuming that they’ll save a ton of dough by listing it FSBO.

Employment growth has improved, consumer confidence reflects growing optimism, and affordability is at record levels driven by sub-4% mortgage rates. The spring market is nearly here and there is much anecdotal evidence that it will be stronger than recent history. One indicator, foot traffic, is the strongest that it has been in several years.
Read More Signs Point to a Broad Spring Improvement

The motivations behind selling a home have also changed in recent years. The top reason sellers sold their home in the latest profile was for a job relocation, tied with the home sellers home was too small—accounting for 17 percent of home sellers.
Five years ago, the number one reason was the home was too small at 19 percent, but job relocation barely was on the radar at just 9 percent of home sellers.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

In order to really benefit from the assistance of a Realtor during the sales process and get top dollar for you current property. It is important to be objective about the house you are currently living in. You may have lived in this house for many years, raised a family, have many fond memories of events in it, or you may have only lived in this house for a short period of time. We all have some sort of attachment to the house we live in, but we have to acknowledge this attachment in order to realize our first important step, learning to be objective. To be objective means to see something without the influence of personal feelings, prejudices, and interpretations; basing everything upon fact not your thoughts about a person or thing; in this instance we’re talking about being objective about ’your’ home.

This is first step and usually the hardest for many people. It isn’t always easy to step away from your personal feelings, thoughts, and references to a home; however, you have to if you really want to sell the home. Are you ready? Can you step outside of your personal feelings and comfort zone enough to become objective about how this particular home looks, feels, and markets? Are you ready to see this house as a commodity, something to be bought and sold, and not as 'your' home?

By removing any thoughts and feelings of the house being ‘yours’ then you can begin to be objective; thereby allowing you to see the house from a different perspective. While working with homeowners during our Market-Ready Consults, we remind Sellers that the whole process of these consults is to assist them in removing thoughts about the house being theirs. Everything from re-arranging furniture, packing up things, and discussing the role of children and pets during the selling process is to assist you in this thought process. Reminding yourself and your family that this is no longer ‘your’ home will allow you to alter your view point, shift your intentions, and make the marketing, selling, and moving process easier for everyone. Being objective and no longer thinking about the house being ‘yours’ will allow you to step into the role of a potential buyer, an important aspect for getting the house sold.

Part of this process is to release your personal feelings or emotions to the house. By beginning to no longer refer to the house as ‘yours’, you will begin the process of disconnecting your emotions from the home.

Foreclosure is Not Your Only Option.

Learn the Alternatives Here.

If you are having difficulty making your mortgage payments, rest assured that you are not alone. In these difficult economic times we are working with many people in your situation, while you may be thinking about and fearing foreclosure, there are other routes you can take. Foreclosure may be avoided, your credit may be saved, and your financial future may be salvaged.

Easy do-it-yourself paint jobs are among the thing sellers may consider doing in preparation for listing their home.

Should you make home improvements when you plan to move anyway? Generating curb appeal and using model home staging techniques are better ways to spend your money than loading up on major home improvements when it's time to sell your home in any market. Curb appeal and staging won't work, however, if your home is a wreck.
Both market conditions and your home's condition dictate what additional projects you should complete before you open your home to prospective buyers.

Seller's Market

Leave most improvements for the buyer: In a seller's market, the rule of thumb is to leave most home improvements to the buyer. You probably won’t increase your sales price enough to cover the cost of the work and time, and second-guessing what the buyer will want in appliances, decor and finishes could cost you the sale.
Reduce your asking price so it reflects your older kitchen or bathroom instead of squandering time and money on a major remodeling job that people might hate. Disclose any work done without a required permit: One exception to the above rule of thumb, however, is righting a wrong. That is, if you or a previous owner completed work on your home without a required permit, make it right before you attempt to sell: either

disclose that you did not obtain a permit,

or obtain a permit and either complete the work yourself,

or leave it up to the buyer to complete the work in the way they desire.

First, in many states, you and your agent are required to disclose known conditions that could affect the value or salability of your home. If you don't and a home inspector or appraiser uncovers unpermitted work, you could be liable for nondisclosure and the lender could stall the deal.
Ultimately, you could be required to have the local building officials inspect the work in order to obtain a permit. Before you get a permit you also may have to complete any unfinished work. In any case, if the work isn't to code, you could be forced to tear it out, especially if it's a safety hazard.
But that's not the worst of it. If, after close of escrow, the buyer discovers work completed without a permit and the local building department decides not to approve the work, a chunk of the home's value could become a legal issue. Any difference in value based on what was not permitted at the time of sale, becomes a point of litigation. What to improve: All sellers should perform deferred maintenance repairs to fix or replace broken items and systems. Put the home and its components in good working order by replacing missing roof shingles and broken or cracked windows. Repair driveway cracks and straighten listing fences. Make sure doors, gates, lights, plumbing fixtures and other items are all working properly.

Buyer's Market

Make sufficient improvements to get a market edge: In a buyer's market, along with making certain your home and its components are all up to code, the idea is to give your home a marketing edge – without over doing it.
The improvements you should make aren't necessarily those that give you a return on your money. Instead, they should be largely generic, cosmetic improvements that enhance your home's functionality, efficiency and aesthetics – all to give it a contemporary feel. What to improve: Often that simply means cleaning up and removing clutter. A new coat of paint, new carpeting, freshly manicured landscaping, updated fixtures, windows, doors and other touches will put your home in the best light. Let the buyer take care of major fixes: If an inspection or appraisal turns up the need for major corrective work, say due to termite or moisture damage, leave money in escrow with instructions for the escrow officers to pay the contractors once they complete the work.
Let the buyer select the contractors based on several fair bids and have the work done after the close of escrow to avoid a construction zone in your home while you are trying to sell it.
If the buyer supervises the work, you won't incur liability for it and the lender knows the property will be restored to its proper condition, which enhances its loan value.

We at Synergy Designer Homes are now building new homes for sale in Ellabell, Georgia in a beautiful new home community that combines a quiet country setting with the convenience of modern living. Hidden Creek is a community that offers you everything you want and more!

Community Pool
Located just off of I-16, Hidden Creek is minutes from the back gate of the Fort Stewart military base plus convenient to Hunter and Historic Downtown Savannah. The community is also close to Georgia Southern University which offers regular and graduate programs plus IIA football games! Living in Hidden Creek also means you’ll have access to wonderful amenities such as the community pool, playground, and parks scattered throughout the community. Plus, great local recreation is just minutes away such as:

Black Creek Golf Course
The Black Creek Golf Club is one of the finest semi-private golf clubs in the area. Relax and enjoy their wide variety of personalized services and exceptional social and recreational facilities. The golf course features 18 holes and has a practice and putting green, a full-service clubhouse, and driving range. Plus, you can get the latest golf apparel and equipment at their Pro Shop! You can visit their webpage here for more details.

Parks Throughout
Another great perk to living in Hidden Creek is close access to the county-owned Hendrix Park. Located off of Wilma Edwards Road, the park features facilities such as a football field, inside basketball court, gym, playground equipment, baseball and softball fields, tennis courts, restroom facilities, and the new NEOS 360 – a high-tech interactive electronic game that is fun for the whole family! You can learn more about the park here.

Our quality and affordable new homes feature the latest and greatest in energy efficiency such as spray foam insulation, are situated on a half-acre home sites and come in three, four or five bedroom plans. Contact us today to help you choose and customize a Hidden Creek home!

Five Home Improvements That Don't Always Add Value to Your Home

Not-So-Sure-Fire Improvements

Adding a pool

Adding high-end accessories

Adding wall-to-wall carpeting

Adding elaborate landscaping

Adding new windows

Everywhere you look these days, folks are sprucing up their homes. Although interest rates are rising, consumers are still enamored with the home improvement craze î º and with good reason. They have a lot invested. Balances on home-equity lines of credit have soared 71 percent to $543.2 billion over the last two years, according to an analysis by Equifax Inc. and Moody's Economy.com. Although some of this money was spent on consolidating high-interest credit card debt, vacations, and college tuitions, a large portion was earmarked by homeowners for improvements to increase the value of their homes. The problem, however, is that many of their investments may fail to recoup even half of their original spend.
You can't contemplate home improvement in a vacuum. While a media room is one of today's hottest remodeling projects, if your house is in dire need of an additional bathroom, then theater-style seating and soundproof walls will most likely be a wash at resale. If watching the latest blockbuster with your family in the comfort of your own home is worth more to you than whether you will recoup 60 to 80 percent of the project's cost at resale, then go for it. But don't expect potential buyers to get lathered up about the built-in surround sound system when the insect-damaged front deck is in need of serious attention. Below are five home improvements that don't always increase the value of your home.

Swimming Pools

You may envision hours of summer leisure and family fun. Potential homebuyers see maintenance, expense, and LAWSUITS. If you want to spend $75,000 on an in-ground pool and are prepared to get nothing in return for that investment î º except the pleasure of cooling off every night after work î º then go right ahead. Pools are actually one investment that can actually lower the value of your home. It is not uncommon today that a contingency of sale is that the current home seller must dismantle the above-ground pool or fill in an in-ground pool before the buyers will sign on the dotted line.

High-end Accessories

Unless your home is of similar quality throughout, don't over-improve one or two rooms with high-end accessories to the exclusion of everything else. You won't recoup even half the money you spend on a restaurant-quality cook top, a whisper-quiet dishwasher, and imported Italian floor tiles if you only have one bathroom with pitted vinyl flooring, a leaky faucet, and bedrooms that haven't had a change of paint since the 1960s. A rule of thumb is to keep everything in your home of similar style and quality and keep your home within the top 25 percent of other homes in your neighborhood.

Wall-to-wall carpeting

Beat-up wall-to-wall carpeting may detract from the value of your home, but ripping it all out and replacing it with new carpeting isn't necessarily the solution. First of all, good-quality carpet is getting more expensive î º upwards of $15 to $25 a square yard, and that doesn't include installation. The other problem is that your choice of carpeting color and style may not match the decorative vision of any potential homebuyers. It might be better to remove the carpeting and take the money you would have spent on replacing it and spend it on refinishing your hardwood floors instead. Then you can add small area or hallway rugs where they make the most fashion and comfort sense. These can be either kept in place or removed during home showings when it comes time to sell.

Elaborate Landscaping

Other than a pleasing-looking lawn and plantings that complement rather than over-power your home, landscaping doesn't necessarily add a whole lot of value to your home. It is mainly for own enjoyment. Elaborate gardens that will need extensive care î º possibly of a gardener î º may not recoup even a quarter of your investment at resale. Hardscape, such as stone walls and fences, is attractive, but most buyers won't even consider them in the value equation.

New Windows

With energy prices on the rise, installing replacement windows is an improvement many homeowners are considering. However, double-hung windows can cost anywhere between $200 and $300 and, unless you're a DIY wizard, you will have to pay someone to install them. With energy savings and an estimated resale value that hovers around 85 percent, according to Remodeling Magazine, standard replacement windows make sense in some cases. If your windows are in poor shape, with cracked and/or loose panes, sashes that are difficult or impossible to operate, and glass that just won't come clean no matter how much you scrub, replacing windows can provide you with a good return on your investment. However, if your windows are in good shape, your return will be much lower.

We at Synergy Designer Homes are now building new homes for sale in Ellabell, Georgia in a beautiful new home community that combines a quiet country setting with the convenience of modern living. Hidden Creek is a community that offers you everything you want and more!

Community Pool
Located just off of I-16, Hidden Creek is minutes from the back gate of the Fort Stewart military base plus convenient to Hunter and Historic Downtown Savannah. The community is also close to Georgia Southern University which offers regular and graduate programs plus IIA football games! Living in Hidden Creek also means you’ll have access to wonderful amenities such as the community pool, playground, and parks scattered throughout the community. Plus, great local recreation is just minutes away such as:

Black Creek Golf Course
The Black Creek Golf Club is one of the finest semi-private golf clubs in the area. Relax and enjoy their wide variety of personalized services and exceptional social and recreational facilities. The golf course features 18 holes and has a practice and putting green, a full-service clubhouse, and driving range. Plus, you can get the latest golf apparel and equipment at their Pro Shop! You can visit their webpage here for more details.

Parks Throughout
Another great perk to living in Hidden Creek is close access to the county-owned Hendrix Park. Located off of Wilma Edwards Road, the park features facilities such as a football field, inside basketball court, gym, playground equipment, baseball and softball fields, tennis courts, restroom facilities, and the new NEOS 360 – a high-tech interactive electronic game that is fun for the whole family! You can learn more about the park here.

Our quality and affordable new homes feature the latest and greatest in energy efficiency such as spray foam insulation, are situated on a half-acre home sites and come in three, four or five bedroom plans. Contact us today to help you choose and customize a Hidden Creek home!

is an exciting and complex adventure. It can also be a very time-consuming and costly one if you're not familiar with all aspects of the process, and don't have all the best information and resources at hand.

One of my specialties is representing the best interests of Savannah, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Richmond Hill and Effingham County area buyers throughout the home buying process. My comprehensive, high-quality services can save you time and money, as well as make the experience more enjoyable and less stressful.

If you're like most people, buying a home is the biggest investment you will ever make. So whether you're buying a starter home, your dream home or an investment property, why not take advantage of our team's experience as local market experts,to help you make the most informed decisions you can, every step of the way?